Monday, March 9, 2009

Restaurant Serves Food From Toilets

"There's poop everywhere! Y-u-c-k," says 6-year-old Jordan Lien as he and his family dine at the Modern Toilet, a popular Taiwanese restaurant chain that's expanding into China and other parts of Asia.

At the Modern Toilet, a popular Taiwanese restaurant chain, currently expanding into China and other parts of Asia, patrons pay for the privilege of eating curry, pasta and chicken served from plates bearing more than a passing resemblance to toilets.

The Chinese can take this, theorized one enthusiastic diner, because they are more nonchalant about bodily functions, such as burping, breaking wind, or even going to the bathroom — an act performed squatting sans doors in some parts of China.

Another patron admitted that “it’s a little gross when you see other people eat, but when you’re eating, you don’t notice it, because you’re hungry and the aroma is appetizing.”

Modern Toilet owner Wang Zi-wei, 29, an ex-banker, got his idea from the Japanese robot cartoon character Jichiwawa, who loves to play with excrement and swirl it on a stick.

Inspired by that charming image, Wang began selling chocolate ice cream swirls on paper squat toilets. Customers loved them and wanted more edible excretion experiences, so he opened Modern Toilet in 2004.